A second too late
by Scoobycool9 and Luckycool9
Summary: Scooby is dead. It is all my fault. OC centric.


** A second too late **

**I decided to write this little AU one-shot to RT3's life or death scenario. What if Scooby did die? How can everyone cope?**

**Disclaimer: I own James, Samuel/Chase, Life, JJ and Sami. I do not own Scooby doo. WG and Tracker own Luna and Liz, respectively.**

I looked at Scooby's lifeless body. Life, the girl, has brought him here, she had attempted to save him, but she was too late. It was too late to save Scooby Doo, he was now dead. It was all my fault, every last bit of it. If I hadn't asked him to help me, to wait outside while I did the unthinkable, I didn't care about anything else, not anymore. Not about the man who lied to me, not about any villain. I smiled, as I remembered the first time I met Scooby.

"_Ro rare rou?" Scooby asked me, confused. _

"_Me, I am James Mouse, you can call me just James," I said._

"_Ran rou relp re rind ry riends?" Scooby asked. _

"_Sure, Scooby. It should be easy. Do you know what happened to them?" I asked._

"_Rhey rere ridnapped ry ra ran ramed rhase runter," Scooby replied. I walked with him and he seemed less alone and more happy. Scooby followed me, as we approached the lair of the villain._

"What should we do?" Luna asked me.

"We take him home and bury him," I said, with a hint of bitterness in my voice.

"How?" Liz asked. I made a portal, my first portal ever. I stepped into it, with Luna and Liz, with Life in tow. I arrived in front of Sami, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Danica, JJ and Scooby Dee.

"What happened to Scooby?" Scooby Dee asked, concerned about her love.

"He is dead," I said, tears streaming from my eyes. He was dead, the words didn't offer any comfort or change the truth of the matter. Scobert Doo was no longer in this world, he was with the angels.

"How did he die?" Shaggy and Sami asked.

"I was a second too late, my brother killed him," Life said. I looked at the ground, this was my entire fault. There was no way around it; it was my own greed which killed him. Living forever came with a price, and I just paid a small fraction of it.

"I can't believe it, I remember the first time we got him, actually, another little boy was looking at him when his father showed him something else," Velma said. I knew what Velma meant. I was that little boy, the one who almost adopted Scooby.

_I stared at the small puppy. He was clumsy, but he was cute. He had something none of these other dogs had, character. He knew what he wanted and that was to be adopted. I smiled, at the small pet. I saw four teens looking for a dog, one of the teens rejecting every suggestion._

"_Come on, James," my father, Samuel, said._

"_I like this one, though, dad," I replied. I was going to throw a tantrum, but my dad showed me another one. I did see the teens take the dog and adopt him. It looked like he got a good home after all._

"He was so fun and lovable," Daphne said.

"He was brave, but in his own way," JJ replied.

"There is no other dog like Scooby Doo," I said.

"That is putting it mildly," Fred said. In a way, Scooby had sacrificed his life for me.

"He rescued me, once or twice," Velma said, remembering how he had saved her life on more than one occasion. They were all over the news, I knew about them.

"I wish I could have saved him," Life and I said.

"Maybe your new 'gift' could bring him back," Shaggy asked.

"I wish it worked that way. But it comes with a price. I couldn't bear to deal with a Scooby who wasn't entirely there, who wasn't the Scooby that we all remember. It would be worse than knowing he is dead," I replied.

"I guess you are right," Scooby Dee said. I hummed a tune and started to sing.

"_I miss him,_

_There is no one else in the world like Scooby Doo,_

_He had a brave spirit."_ I stopped singing for a brief moment

"I think it was more than that," Velma said.

"You are right," I said.

"_He was the glue to all of our lives,_

_Scooby Doo, we are going to miss you,_

_Nothing will ever be the same again._

_Nothing will ever be the same again._

_This world has one less hero,_

_One less savior."_

I walked out of the room, tears streaming form my face. I walked up to my room, and saw the pictures of Scooby and me. It was of our first meeting, after we saved the gang. The time after I beat Chase Hunter for the first time, everything was all just memories of the great dog known as Scooby Doo. I heard a knock on my door.

"James, are you okay?" Luna asked.

"I am fine, I will be just fine," I said. I heard them depart from the area. I broke down into tears, of the loss of one of my best friends. He was everything to me. He became my idol, my hero, my best friend and my confident. He meant everything to me.

"Rhy, rou rie rour riends?" Scooby asked. I turned and saw his angel.

"Scooby, is that you?" I asked.

"Rin rhe rlesh," he replied.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"Rames, rit ris rot rour rault. Ri ried rxactly rhen ri ras rupposed ro." He seemed to believe his own words.

"But I was a second too late, I got you into this mess," I said.

"Rames, rit ris rokay. Rou rave ro remain rong, ra rew rhreat ris roming. Ralso, rotect ry ron." I sighed and realized he was right. I turned to reply to him, but he was gone. He was gone for good, and I would miss him, that would never change. I would survive, with the thought that I had to protect my friends, from the same fate as Scooby. I would protect his kid. I would always miss him, but that I was human. I joined the rest of the gang, ready to say my final goodbye to the dog who changed my world, to the brave, yet cowardly hero. We buried him and I sat down on the bench. We all cried for Scooby. I still grieve for him, if only it could have worked out differently.

**AN: Did I make you cry? Also, the 'gift' reference is to RT3's part of James's being a Master of Death. REVIEW, PLEASE!**


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